


Hiraeth

by TenaciousTempest



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, End of the World, Entrapdak, F/M, First Kiss, POV Hordak, Pining, entrapta tops and you cant convince me otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 19:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20102668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenaciousTempest/pseuds/TenaciousTempest
Summary: While the portal tears at the fabric of reality, Hordak is left wondering why everything isn't perfect.





	Hiraeth

The assault on Thaymore had gone according to plan. In fact, it had been executed perfectly. Reports showed almost no losses on the Horde’s side, and complete annihilation to the village This victory was a considerable one, such an advance into the Whispering Wood’s had been unheard of, and it put Hordak one step closer to total planetary control. 

Everything was perfect. The Salineas Sea Gate would be their next major offensive, followed by Dryl. Eventually they would have Bright Moon surrounded, and the last of the Rune Stones would be his. With all of them under his control, Hordak was certain that he would finally be able to open the portal long enough for Horde Prime to pin-point his location, ushering in an era of Horde dominance upon Eternia. He would finally elevate his station from failed clone, returning back to his rightful place as Horde Prime’s second-in-command. 

Hordak couldn't shake the feeling that everything wasn't quite perfect, however. Something was missing, but he couldn't place a finger on what. The listlessness was driving him into a frenzy, leaving him to pace about his inner sanctum like a tiger at the zoo. So, he searched. He peered through every nook and cranny of his dwelling. He checked the status of his growing clones, the wiring of of his portal generator, even the drawers of his workstation, all to no avail.

At this point he felt like he was losing his mind. He leaned against a support beam, desperate to steady himself. The unnecessary movement was taking its toll on his failing body. He needed to take a moment to rest and clear his head, to try and shake this nagging feeling.

That’s when he first caught sight of her. She was wholly focused on her work, yet her body buzzed with elation. Her movement was fluid, as if she knew exactly where he kept each of his tools, almost like this was her lab and not his. He made to open his mouth to admonish her for interrupting his work, but something stilled within him. The tugging sensation he felt seemed to vanish in her presence. 

Eventually she turned to look at him. He realized that she was talking to him, but he was unable to make out the sounds, almost as if they’d been sent through a radio and garbled mid transmission. He ached to hear her voice, to uncover what she was saying. Did she know what was missing? Had she come to help? She lifted a hand to raise the protective visor from her face, and before he could see her she was gone, leaving nothing in the place she had occupied.

The shock of her disappearance made him feel fortunate for the sturdy beam behind him. Had she existed at all? He rushed forward to examine his workbench, picking up a tool he had seen her hold aloft during her work. Dread washed over him as he held it in his hand, finding it to still be warm. Underneath the dread bloomed a pleasantness he was unfamiliar with. An understanding that she had belonged there, even if she was no longer with him.

He shook his head, trying to shake the sight of her from his memory. Something was wrong, and if he didn't trust his own sensibilities what else did he have? He needed to clear his head, to fill his lungs with this planet's wretched atmosphere. Perhaps he’d spent too much time inside this last few days. 

Hordak left a side chamber of his lab and entered the main area. Imp, noticing his master’s sudden departure, flitted down from the wire he was perched on to fly slightly behind him. The doorway disappeared behind them as they passed through it, leaving just enough time for Imp to make it through. He sensed that something was amiss in his lab, but his mind was too focused on her to pay any real mind to it. He heard Imp shriek at something, but his feet pushed him onward, out the exit of his lab and away from the yelling of his stunted clone.

The sight that greeted him on the other side of his door was not the hallway he had been expecting. He was instantly aware that he was no longer in the Fright Zone, that somehow he had walked a great distance and possibly traversed even the passage of time. He could feel the moisture in what was left of his hair, and outside he heard the rhythmic claps of thunder. This was hardly the weirdest thing to ever happen to him, and yet the deep purple walls calmed him in a way he had not felt since seeing the girl in his lab. The combination of dread and comfort was beginning to feel like a trend that he would have to grow used to if he was ever to quiet the uneasiness in his chest.

His ears were drawn to the sound of talking and the music of machinery coming from down the hallway. Before he could think on his actions his feet compelled him forward into the unknown. He slowed to a halt at the corner of the doorway, careful not to alert the room’s inhabitant of his presence. Whatever was on the other side could easily be hostile, though he felt that that might not be the case.

He took in the room, making note of all of the robots that occupied the cramped work space and of the discarded technology left haphazardly along the walls. For a moment his eyes flashed to the red of force captain Adora’s jacket, confused by her presence and her two unknown companions, that was until his eyes locked onto the figure in front of his general. He had almost missed her, obscured by the bright lights of her monitors, but he recognized her in an instant as the girl he had imagined in his lab.

“I know what I'm about to say sounds crazy-” he heard Adora say, 

“Is this about the unstable portal that’s slowly consuming and warping our reality?” the girl urged, her voice irritating yet satisfying. “An unstable portal is the only thing that would account for all the anomalies I've been picking up in my research.” 

Things were starting to make sense to him now. He clutched his head as he was bombarded with memories, fragments that didn’t make sense. An unstable portal explained how he ended up here and why everything was feeling so discordant. 

“Try to remember, Entrapta, when you and Hordak built the portal machine,” Adora prompted her. The statement brought more memories back to him: the two of them working together in his lab, rerouting power within the Fright Zone to fuel the portal he suspected was currently toying with their lives. His newest string of memories were broken again by her voice, lulling him back into the present.

“Remember,” Entrapta said, savoring the word and the knowledge she was rediscovering. “-I had a lab partner, Hordak,” she spun around on her hair to face Adora, and by proxy himself, and watched as she smiled has she said his name. She continued to speak but Hordak was captivated by the way her lips tilted upward on either end. He was overwhelmed by how her smile caused his heart to flutter, and he raised two fingers up to the base of his throat, taken aback by how such a small display of emotion could affect him so profoundly. 

Suddenly the building they were in began to shake, and he noticed Entrapta start to fade out of existence. In an instant Adora and her companions vanished before his eyes as well, leaving him alone.

“No! Come Back!” Hordak roared, his body lurching forward into the space she once occupied, but it was useless; she had vanished. Suddenly Catra’s words rang in his ears, a cacophony of “who do you think let the princesses in?” echoed over and over. She had abandoned him once again. He had forgotten her initial betrayal and now he was working through the pain of losing her twice over. When the floor split open beneath him, reality finally unravelling, he did nothing to prevent himself from tumbling into the void. 

He felt hair wrap around his arms, his body jerking as he stopped falling suddenly and was instead raised into the air. When his eyes finally refocused from the blinding purple light of the void he found himself in a field of grass, Entrapta standing over him, her face triumphant.

“How are we here?” he asked, gazing up at her from where he lay on the grass. In the distance he could see the purple flashing of their world destabilizing, but it was currently far enough away to not concern him. For now, all that mattered was that she was back, here with him.

“My calculations proved correct,” Entrapta asserted. She began walking back and forth, using her hair as legs while rapidly gesticulating. “The portal causes anomalies, systematically warping and altering reality. Those who get caught up in its path of destruction cease to exist, however, as long as it doesn't catch you you’re safe. And, if reality isn't what it seems, what's to stop me from taking advantage of this? Necessity is, afterall, the mother of invention. You’re just lucky I was able to catch you in time.”

“Lucky? Why did you let the princesses into the Fright Zone?” Hordak demanded, incensed by her words. He had resigned himself to die, accepted that his life’s work, and his heart’s weakness had been his undoing. 

“Let the princesses into the Fright Zone?” Entrapta asked, confused by his sudden accusation. “The last thing I remember before ending up here is trying to find you, to urge you not to use the portal. My calculations showed that doing so would be disastrous and then-” her voice trailed off for a moment, a sudden sadness taking hold of her. “Catra, she- she electrocuted me...”

The rage that had consumed him was quashed by her sadness. The very mention of Catra’s name was enough to prove to him that Entrapta was telling the truth. She had never lied to him, had even actively tried to support and improve his life in their time together. Furthermore, allowing the princesses into the Fright Zone would have been counterproductive to scientific advancement. He should have seen through her lies, but he’d let himself be carried away by grief. He clenched his fist, angry at Catra, and above all angry at himself 

“I’m a failure,” Hordak started, conscious of how the purple lightning was closing in around them. “I never wanted to see you hurt and now I’ve doomed us both.” 

“At least to me, you’re perfect,” Entrapta reassured him, even now trying to boost his spirits. Gently she sat down onto the grass beside him. They watched in silence as the world started to destabilize. The wind was picking up, rippling grass from the earth. Hordak had wanted to rule the planet, not destroy it. 

Entrapta hovered over Hordak for a moment, their eyes locked together. And then she did something that truly surprised him. Using her hair to guide herself, she placed both hands on his cheeks and leaned in to kiss him.

Their lips met, slowly then all at once. They were a bastion of calm in the raging tempest. Both were aware that this was not something that they had done together in the past. They were no longer living out their memories, but making a new one in this broken world. After a moment he pulled away from her, confused by their tender exchange. Reassurance came when her hair wrapped around his lower back and pulled him back closer to her.

“Inconclusive data,” Entrapta chortled, “further experimentation is needed.”

At some point their fingers had become entwined. Hordak looked down to marvel at their closeness, and noticed their change in transparency. They were quickly fading in the rift. It wouldn't be long now before the portal tore them apart, their very existence undone by the machine they had made together.

“Entrapta, we have to go, we’ll get stuck here,” Hordak urged her, unsure of how to get them to safety in time. She had done it once, he was certain in her ability to do it again.

“Can’t you see?” Entrapta asked him, taking in their surroundings. He had been so distracted by her that everything else had faded away, only now that she mentioned it did he notice the change. The wind was still blowing violently, but the purple lightning had stopped, now the sky was simply a blinding white, there was nothing there but them and the grass. “Fascinating, the portal has stabilized somehow.”

“How could that be?” he asked. Twice now he had resigned himself to die, and it appeared as though he would be failing again in that as well.

“I don’t know, but I can't wait to find out!” she exclaimed, watching in delight as their bodies faded into the white space of the world.

He heard her call to him, the wind delivering her final message, “Come for me Hordak, I’ll be waiting on Beast Island.”


End file.
